Winds of change are sweeping the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. Young leaders like the Congress scion Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party supremo’s son Akhilesh Yadav are making heads turn even as an older generation in politics is pushed to backstage. The SP’s manifesto released on Friday is a reflection of this trend.

In sync with his youth appeal and sharp contrast to his father’s anti-computer stand, the manifesto talks about laptops and tablets for students. It says, if voted to power, the party will give students that pass class 12 a laptop and those who pass class 10 a tablet PC. Besides, it also promises free education for all up to class 8 and for all girls up to graduation.

Only three years ago, in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the party’s manifesto said that the SP was against the use of English as well as computers. The party supremo then held the view that the use of computers in offices was responsible for creating unemployment. In 2012, the party’s poll promises ring in a different tune. Riding on Akhilesh’s rising popularity among the state’s youths, the party seems to have gone for an image makeover. This is in sharp contrast to the ideals of Yadav Senior, who opposed the anti-copying ordinance in UP tooth and nail in the early 1990s. 

The manifesto also puts a full stop to the doubts about the party’s leadership. Earlier also, when the SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s son put a firm foot down on DP Yadav’s joining the party, his word was final. Those who came in the way had to stand out (senior leader Mohan Singh lost his position as the party’s national spokesman). 

In a bid to maintain its firm grip on its Muslim vote-bank, the party has promised reservation to backward Muslims. Setting up colleges in Muslim-dominated areas and a fee waiver for children of families below the poverty line are also part of the manifesto. For Mayawati, the manifesto promises a commission to inquire into all the corruption charges against her in a time-bound manner.